Memories of Guardia
by Shattered Katana
Summary: Uhhh... A lot of flashbacks. I saved it under the wrong title at first, it was originally "Memories". Please review


Disclaimer: I don't own Chrono Cross.  
  
Author's Notes: I would actually prefer to write a Serge/Kid coupling, but i'm doing this more as a favor to my friend, who reviewed under the name Schala "Kid" Zeal. And by the way, the person who reviewed under that name is actually a boy. He has an obssesion with Kid. Most of this is flashback. Please review.  
  
Memories of Guardia  
  
A group of three stood in Guardia forest in front of the abandoned Guardia Castle. One of them is Kid. The other two are male. One stood at Kid's height, had dark brown hair, and wore a red bandana just like Serge's. He also wore two daggers at his two sides. The other stood at a good 6 feet and had black hair. A long scar ran down his cheek. He wore a katana at his waist.  
  
"It's been 20 years," Kid said softly.  
  
"Yes," the companion who stood at about Kid's height said  
  
"Not as many for me," the taller one stated. "And I have more memories from here than you guys do."  
  
"I still can't believe that there was an uprise against Crono and Marle, Cory," Kid said.  
  
"Neither can I," the taller man, now revealed as Cory said. "They were   
good rulers. But history always repeats, I guess someone wanted it to repeat faster and start another war. Hey Mike! Do you think that that was why they attacked Guardia?"  
  
The last man, Mike, replied. "You're always thinking about war, Cory. I guess that's how all soldiers are though. I however, care more about love." He pulled Kid in and kissed her.  
  
"I'm gonna go inside first," Cory told to the couple.  
  
Cory walked inside the castle and was met by an assault of memories with each step.  
  
**Flashback**  
  
A blue-haired teen (Serge, but unknown to Cory) pulled Cory out of the way of one of those hellish monsters. Cory quickly dashed outside, suffering from burns the fires in front of the front door. He immediately crashed into a body. Cory looked into the face of the person who was in the way. Spikey red bangs hung in front of his face. It was King Crono, Uncle Crono to the kids in the orphanage.  
  
"What happened here?" Crono asked kindly.  
  
Cory sniffed a few times before answering. "A-A cat man came in and burned everything. H-He took out a curvy bladed weapon and killed Sis. Then a-a-a blue haired man came and saved me. I-I don't know what happened to the others."  
  
Crono was silent for a while. "Lucca is dead?" he said to himself. Then he said to Cory, "I guess maybe I should take you in for a while. I can train you with a weapon, being a guard trainee will be a valid excuse for you to stay. What do you say?"  
  
"A-Alright Uncle Crono," Cory said.  
  
"One more thing, in the castle you're gonna have to call me King Crono, or something along the lines of king, like majesty or liege, alright?"  
  
"O-Okay."  
  
The two didn't notice the blue-haired teen crashing through a window with a small child in his arms and run up a nearby hill. Nor did they notice another boy that just ran out through the back door.  
  
**End Flashback**  
  
"I guess I'll have to thank the guy that saved me," Cory said to himself, listening to the slight echo in the hallway. "Didn't Kid say his name was Serge? I am eternally grateful for King Crono taking me in though."  
  
**Flashback**  
  
"Cory, I will give you my first blade to train with," the red-haired king of Guardia said to Cory. He handed the black-haired child a wooden katana.  
  
"Thank you my liege," Cory said. He looked at the dull blade and swung it around a few times. However, Cory wasn't very strong and the momentum of the swing made him stumble a bit.  
  
"Take it easy a bit," Crono said.  
  
"Yes," a female voice said from behind the king. The blond queen of Guardia appeared from the stairway. "Not even the most skilled of knights in the castle started as experts. Not too many were natural sword fighters."  
  
"I watch them train a lot," Cory said. "When can I start my training Uncle... I mean King Crono?"  
  
"Hmm. At least your eager. I can show you some techniques and dances in the practice grounds," Crono offered.  
  
"Thank you!" Cory sid.  
  
The two walked into the practice grounds. Cory stood at the side to give Crono more room. Crono unsheathed his katana. He was in his old tunic. He never wore formal attire unless it was absolutely necessary. He held it up and the blade seemed to change colors. After a few seconds of staring at the blade, Cory realized that it was indeed changing colors. He watched as Crono swung his katana at a wide arc toward the ground and stop right before it hit. He quickly altered the direction of the blade with a flick of the wrist. He continued swinging, every move executed with strength and technique. The young Cory watched on in awe. After Crono finished he wiped his forehed on the sleave of the tunic.  
  
"Amazing your majesty," Cory said, still in awe.  
  
"I'll show you some moves right now," Crono said.  
  
Crono took Cory into the field and started showing him some moves.  
  
**End Flashback**  
  
Cory walked into the practice field. It was now covered in moss and other plant life now. Cory closed his eyes nd remembered the first sword dance Crono had shown him. He took out the katana at his waist. It was the Rainbow, Crono's own katana. Cory started with the sword dance, knowing it well enough to do it with his eyes closed. With each swing and step more memories came back.  
  
**Flashback**  
  
Cory, now 18 years old ran to the royal quarters.  
  
"YOUR MAJESTY!" Cory yelled as he came through the door. Cory stopped for a moment to catch his breath before saying, "We are under attack! The enemy's forces are very strong and 25% of the knights at the castle have already been defeated! And they have also burned down Truce!"  
  
"WHAT!?" Crono yelled.  
  
"Sire, we need your help," Cory continued.  
  
"Alright, I'll be there in a few minutes."  
  
"Will you care if I go too?" Marle asked.  
  
"No, you can go," Crono said. "I hope you haven't lost your edge with your crossbow though."  
  
"I didn't," the queen said confidently.  
  
Cory took out his katana. It was now Death's Blade instead of the wooden sword he had started with. The curved blade was pitch black in color.  
  
Then the trio left the room after Crono and Marle got their weapons.  
  
**End Flashback**  
  
Cory dropped the Rainbow and clutched his head.  
  
"No. Not this memory. NOOOO!" Cory screamed. He was unaware of his two companions approaching him at the sound of his yell as he fell back into the memory.  
  
**Flashback**  
  
Cory quickly dispatched another attacker with a quick slash and moved on.  
  
'None of these fighters are too good,' Cory thought. He quickly stabbed backwards and killed one of the enemies that was attacking him from behind. 'Damn coward, attacking from behind.'  
  
Cory looked around and saw that, despite the fact that most of the enemies were inferior fighters to him, they were superior to most of the guards and soldiers at the castle. Only the elite soldiers, the captain, the king and queen, and Cory himself remained.  
  
Suddenly a muscular man moved through all the remaining fighters, his allies and his enemies, it didn't matter to him. He just killed everyone. He quickly killed off everyone, save for himself, Cory, Crono, Marle, and another man that seemed to be leading the operation for attacking, since he was staying back and yelling out orders. Then the man quickly moved in on Marle. Marle quickly shot an energy arrow at the man, but his blade came up and deflected it. With lightning speed, he moved in and cleaved her in half, blood spilled everywhere.  
  
Cory suddenly paled as Crono's eyes filled with pure fury.  
  
"YOU BASTARD!" he yelled. Crono moved in on the man with similar speed that he had just used. They met in an intense clash of metal. Then they started slashing at each other in a high speed dance of death. Cory couldn't make out any of the moves, they moved so fast! Because they were moving so quickly Cory couldn't attack either. Crono could move into his attack by accident. The two fighters were moving fast enough so that one moment one could be somewhere else and the next they had switched places. Suddenly they started circling and slashing at each other. Cory recognized the attack as Confuse, since Crono had taught him the technique himself. But Cory was wondering how the enemy knew the attack also. The slashes met each other, all except the last one. Crono went into an overhead slash and the man went into an underhand slash. The attacks met bodies in a splash of blood, and Cory looked at the bodies of Crono and the man that had killed the queen.  
  
"Cory," Crono rasped out. Cory ran over to the dying body of his king.  
  
"Yes, sire?"  
  
"Take this," Crono said, shoving the Rainbow into his hands.  
  
"B-But I can't," Cory said.  
  
"Take it, you are almost close enough to me to be a son. If I had a child, I would have given it to him, but I don't." Crono smiled and continued. "So please Cory, take it. Make me proud."  
  
"Yes sire," Cory said and closed his hand around the hilt.  
  
"I feel so sleepy," Crono said weakly. "Goodbye, Cory." Crono then died.  
  
Cory just closed his eyes to block out tears. Then he heard footsteps. He turned around in time to see the man that was shouting out orders bring a sword down on him, slashing his face. He saw the man's face before blacking out.  
  
**End Flashback**  
  
"Cory! What happened?" Kid asked.  
  
"Yeah, you kinda freaked on us there," Mike said.  
  
"Ugh," Cory grunted. "Just memories."  
  
"A memory is enough for you to start screaming?" Mike asked.  
  
"It was the memory of Crono's and Marle's deaths," Cory explained. He closed his eyes, just like he had done so long ago.  
  
"Oh," Kid and Mike answered in unison.  
  
"I just remembered something," Cory said.  
  
"What?" Kid asked.  
  
"The same man that gave me the scar convinced me that General Viper attacked Guardia," Cory explained, pointing at the scar on his cheek that ran from his temple. "I must of had temporary amnesia because of the strike."  
  
**Flashback**  
  
Cory woke up and blinked a few times.  
  
"Good morning," the man that was in charge of attacking Guardia said to him. "My name is Jorn."  
  
"Ugh. My head hurts. I can't remember anything," Cory said and he clutched his head.  
  
Jorn covered the smirk on his face by clutching his chin and pretending to think. "It must be because of that slash you got. You were comatose for about a year."  
  
Cory ran his hand across the bandage on his cheek. "What happened? Who am I?"  
  
"You are under the command of the late King Crono Guardia (I made Crono changed his last name and I didn't feel like making up a last name for him anyway). He was struck down during the battle. I'm pretty sure your name is Cory," Jorn said.  
  
Suddenly memories flashed back to him in an intense migrain, except for the identity of Jorn as the man who led the attack on Guardia Castle. "Who attacked Guardia."  
  
'Attacking Viper again will be easier than I thought,' Jorn thought. 'I can use him on the attack.' "I know who attacked Guardia," he told Cory. "We are going to attack them and avenge the King!"  
  
**End Flashback**  
  
"Yeah, when you were doing that, I had just arrived at El Nido," Mike said. "I tried getting a job there as a merc (mercenary if you don't know) in the beginning. I can't believe I became a dragoon."  
  
"That was probably because of me though, right?" Kid asked.  
  
"Yeah," Mike replied.  
  
**Flashback**  
  
A 20 year old Mike wandered around Termina.  
  
'I wonder if there is anybody out to hire a merc around here,' he thought. 'Hmmm, I wonder if that General Viper I heard about could use a fighter that's actually competent. He may have his dragoon's, but none of them can be very good if they let someone sneak in before.'  
  
Mike proceeded to walk out of Termina. He started walking over to Viper Manor. About halfway there, he decided to rest a bit. He took out his two daggers. He lined the two daggers together and they started turning into a rapier. He extended a second blade from the bottom. It was now a swallow. The weapon was the Murasame, it was a blade similar to the Masamune. It had two entities in it. He started a combination of attacks and blocks with the swallow, and sometimes changed them around into the different weapons. Eventually he kept it in the rapier form and started to do a kata.  
  
After he finished, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and quickly changed the Murasame back into two daggers. The daggers were sheathed and Mike started walking off.  
  
As he neared Vipor Manor, he saw a lot of structural damage.  
  
'Maybe, I came at a really good time then,' Mike thought. 'From the looks of the place now, it looks like they were attacked and they might need new soldiers.' Mike smirked and started walking in. He quickly knocked out the two guards with a bump on the head with the pommels of his daggers. He walked in and right up into Viper's office.  
  
"Who are you?" Viper asked.  
  
Mike saw three people in the room, a old man, a dark-haired girl, and another girl that looked oddly familiar. The old one he took as Viper. The young lady with dark hair he realized was Viper's daughter, Riddel. The last girl who looked familiar remained unidentified by Mike. "My name is Mike Hawkings, I'm a mercenary."  
  
"How did you get in here?" Riddel asked.  
  
"Weak guards," Mike replied. "And from the look of things here, it looks like you need new soldiers. I'm up for hire."  
  
"You look familiar, mate," the girl that was unidentified to Mike said. "Bloody hell! Are you from Guardia?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"You don't remember me?"  
  
"Not really."  
  
"It's Kid, you know from Sis' orphanage."  
  
Mike's eyes lit up a bit. "Kid! You've changed a lot!"  
  
"This is all very nice," Viper interrupted. "But I believe you wanted a job."  
  
"Oh yeah, back to business," Mike said.  
  
"We'll need to test your skills a bit more," Viper said. "We'll put you against the newest of our four Devas. Glenn!"  
  
Glenn walked into the room. "Yes?"  
  
"This is Mike, a mercenary. We need you to test his skills," the general explained.  
  
Mike and Glenn shook hands.  
  
"We fight in the courtyard," Glenn said.  
  
"Sure."  
  
The Deva and the mercenary walked down to the courtyard. They took out their weapons. Glenn had the two Einlazers out and Mike had the Murasame as two daggers. The two circled around each other and Viper, Riddel, and Kid watched them. Glenn jumped forward and slashed with both swords. Mike shifted the daggers into a swallow. The twin blades blocked the slashes. Mike shifted the blades and pivoted around. He slashed with the top blade and Glenn blocked.  
  
"Bloody Hell!" Kid exclaimed.  
  
"His sword can do that?" Riddel asked no one.  
  
"It must be the legendary Murasame I've heard so much about," Viper said thoughtfully. "I can't believe I got a chance to travel to another dimension, see a second Einlazer, see the Masamune, and see the Murasame all in one lifetime."  
  
They saw Glenn stab forward with the sword in his right hand and Mike dodge to the side and bring his rapier down. It was met with the other Einlazer. Glenn switched the blade angle and slashed in at Mike's unprotected stomach. It was met by a dagger. Mike had changed the Murasame's form again. He jumped back and started chucking daggers at an incredible speed. The speed was so great that the daggers burst into flames! Glenn used his SonicSword tech and knocked away most of the daggers, but one got through and clipped his side. The SonicSword continued and hit Mike. Both of the fighters were now kneeling on the ground holding their sides.  
  
"Enough," Viper finally said as the two combatants got to their feet and healed themselves. "I will hire Mike. He will help us greatly in the fight against the mysterious army that attacks us. It is the army that destroyed Guardia. However, I don't feel as secure with someone who's loyalties can change with nothing more than the offer of more money. Would you like a place as one of our dragoons?"  
  
"A dragoon, eh?" Mike considered. "Hmmm."  
  
"C'mon mate, if you become a dragoon then we would have time to stay together and catch up on what's happening," Kid said.  
  
"I guess I will then," Mike said.  
  
General Viper gave Mike the details on dragoons.  
  
Suddenly a loud explosion was heard.  
  
"It looks like you'll be in your first battle as a dragoon very soon," Viper said. He proceeded to shout out orders to all other dragoons in the area.  
  
Mike, Kid, and Glenn left to fight off the attacking army.  
  
The three quickly sliced through the troops of the enemy and encountered a man with black hair.  
  
"You'll have to get through me to get to any of my allies," the man said and charged with his katana. He went after Kid first, since she was the closest. He slashed in at her and she quickly parried the blow. The man quickly pivoted and executed another slash. Mike quickly jumped in and blocked the slash. Glenn came in at the man with a double slash and the black-haired man ducked out of the way.  
  
Kid and Mike jumped back and watch Glenn and the katana-wielding man fight.  
  
"He looks familiar doesn't he?" Kid asked.  
  
"Yeah, but I can't remember him," Mike replied.  
  
Suddenly the man twisted his slash around one of Glenn's blocks and slashed him a bit on the side.  
  
"DIE DESTROYERS OF GUARDIA!" he yelled. Mike chose that time to execute another one of his techs.  
  
"BLADE'S FURY!" A fireball quickly formed at the tip of Mike's rapier. It shot out and hit him on the back of his neck. The man collapsed.  
  
"Thanks," Glenn said. He charged off to fight other enemies.  
  
Mike picked up the stranger's katana. "Didn't Uncle Crono use this?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah, I wonder how he get it," Kid said. She quickly made Lucca's death weapon appear and shot it at an enemy that was trying to sneak up on them. Unfortunately, Mike rapier got in the way. However, the blade absorbed the energy and released a wave of fire on the enemies. It cut out a semi-large portion of the troops.  
  
"Bloody hell! That wasn't that bad," Kid said. "Now let's drag him inside and wake this bugger up." Mike and Kid quickly rushed the fallen stranger into the manor. They took him to Luccia's lab and locked him in before casting Revive on him.  
  
As the man began to wake up, Kid asked, "Who are you?"  
  
"..."  
  
"Tell me who you are before I kick your arse so hard you'll kiss the moons!"  
  
"Why should I tell you who I am?"  
  
"Because we want to know how you got your hands on Uncle Crono's sword," Mike said.  
  
"Uncle Crono? If you're from Sis' orphanage, then how come you're with the people that burned down Guardia?"  
  
"We aren't the ones that burned down Guardia," Mike explained. "The ones that you are fighting alongside of are."  
  
"What?" Suddenly the man collapsed on the floor, clutching his head. Memories rushed at him, all of them, including the face of the man that led the attack on Guardia. "THAT BASTARD! I'LL KILL JORN!" The man quickly calmed himself. "Oh yes, my name. That is what you wanted, correct?" Mike and Kid nodded. "I am Cory Darkheart, personally trained by King Crono of Guardia. The Rainbow was given to me by the King himself before he died. And if you will, please release me from this cage so I can have my revenge for Guardia."  
  
Mike and Kid quickly let him out and reintroduced themselves. "I'm Kid and he's Mike Hawkings," Kid said.  
  
Cory quickly nodded to the two and ran off.  
  
"I want to see the bugger fight," Kid said and she and Mike started following.  
  
"I recall the fact that he seemed to fight a lot with the other orphanage kids, and he usually won too. I think he even fought me before."  
  
Suddenly Cory reappeared. "Can one of you show me the way out?"  
  
Both Mike and Kid led him outside.  
  
Cory stared out into the battlefield. The dragoons seemed to have been doing a great job of holding their enemies off, but Cory was going to end the fight himself.  
  
"Dark Luminare," he said, voice cold and completely without emotion. The voice was the carrier of death as winds ripped around at high speeds and pure darkness swept over the battlefield. All that remained off the enemy troops were corpses. All the dragoons remained where they were, some even throwing themselves off balance with swings tht encountered nothing. The only enemy left was the leader, Jorn. "JORN! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Cory yelled and charged at him. Jorn quickly took out a broadsword. Cory lept up so he got near enough and brought his katana down forcefully enough to crack through the broadsword and crack the helmet that was worn by Jorn.  
  
"Spincut?" Mike said.  
  
"So the bugger really was trained by Uncle Crono," Kid said.  
  
Cory quickly circled around Jorn at high speeds and put in four slashes.  
  
"Confuse," Mike realised.  
  
Jorn just stood there for a few seconds before he finally fell down in a few pieces.  
  
All the dragoons there just stared at the enemy-turned-ally.  
  
**End Flashback**  
  
"Cory, how come when you did the Dark Luminare tech then, it seemed to have done more damage?" Mike inquired.  
  
"Dark elements and techs have a link with anger. The fresher and more anger you have, the more dangerous the attack is. I was extrememly pissed if you recall, because of the fact that you used a sneaky attack to knock me out and the fact that Jorn tricked me. You probably couldn't have gotten me without having me distracted," Cory said.  
  
"Yeah sure, if you're so confident, then let's see how good you'll do against me in a practice match."  
  
"Fine," Cory replied and took out his katana. Mike took out his daggers and turned them into his swallow.  
  
"I'll watch from the side, mates," Kid said.  
  
Cory and Mike started circling around each other. Cory was showing only his side profile and had his sword pointed right at Mike. Suddenly Cory struck in at a high speed. He swiped once at Mike and jumped back to avoid the counter from the swallow. Mike quickly pressed his attack with both blades. Cory deflected the twin shots and jumped up high above Mike. He somersaulted over and swiped backwards at his opponent, who dodged by jumping forward. He put his hand behind his back and started doing his Flaming Daggers tech. Cory dodged to the side and immedietly met Mike's second tech. He launched a fireball at the ground, which then started to glow red. It burst up from under Cory and Mike started pressing another attack on Cory's falling body. The black-haired young man dodged the first three slashes, but was caught by the fourth in the jaw. Blood started flowing through the fresh cut on his cheek. Cory's eyes darkened and he quickly charged at Mike with high speeds. He quickly brought the flat of the blade right into Mike's stomach four times, in a changed Confuse tech. Mike collapsed onto the ground.  
  
"Oi. You two nearly killed each other! Let me fix you two buggers up. Kid quickly casted a Heal spell on both of them.  
  
"Told you that you couldn't win," Cory said to Mike.  
  
"Fine! I admit defeat, happy?"  
  
Cory shrugged and laughed. The other two soon joined in.  
  
The End  
  
Ending Notes: I was going to put another flashback in, but I couldn't remember what I was going to put in. I had prostponed this story for a while in favor of my original anime/manga, Saigo no Shinwa. Well, like I said before please review. 


End file.
